I have not replaced either the alternator or battery in over 4 years. I've replaced the engine starter 4 months ago.Today is day 2, my car won't start and all the dashboard lights come on. I use my car battery charger and I was able to crank the engine to start and all the lights go away briefly. If I wait about 15 seconds, the dashboard lights start to come on, the engine starts to sputter and lowering RPM and the engine just stops. On the next round of cranking, I gave the engine some gas to increase RPM to get the internal battery charging, but no luck as it is the same thing and the engine just dies.

Any ideas, do I need a new alternator or a new battery? My car battery charger's led display was reading like 11.7v for the internal battery before cranking and then reads 10.3v after cranking which usually means the battery is depleted. But usually, if the battery is dead, I should be able to drive for a while after a successful crank. If it's a new internal battery I need, I can walk down to Autozone one mile to pick it up. If it is the alternator, I have to wait until my indy shop opens tomorrow for them to replace. I might have to get a AAA tow truck just to get the car moving 2/3 miles to the shop from my home.

Also, does anyone think it is safe to drive your car while the battery charger is hooked up to the terminals just to allow me to drive to the indy car shop?